Faculty

The Syracuse Biomaterials Institute consists of 37 faculty members spanning 8 departments. The multi-disciplinary backgrounds of our faculty members provide a unique opportunity for extensive collaboration and support.

Research:
The formation of the plant cell wall and how various external and internal factors influence cell wall chemistry. The plant cell wall is important from a number of perspectives for human use including food and fiber, but my research focuses on improving its usefulness as a source for biofuels and other bioproducts.

Research:
A focus on three main areas that join Inorganic chemistry and biology:
1. Utilizing vitamin B12 to deliver proteins orally or to target metallo-probes/chemotherapeutics to tumor cells
2. Investigating energy independent metal-citrate transport in Gram positive bacteria
3. The coordination chemistry of metal-pyrophosphate complexes and the concomitant biological, magnetic and catalytic properties of such complexes.

Research:
Analyses of a novel paxillin homolog and Rho GTPase signaling modulator, Pxl1p; studies of the functions, traffic, and inhibition of fungal adhesins; functional genomics of fungal control of lipid and membrane homeostasis.

Jeremy Gilbert
Research Professor
Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Biomedical Materials Research Part B: Applied Biomaterials
Professor of Biomaterials,
Department of Biomedical and Chemical Engineering

Research:
Understanding how biomechanical, biochemical, and topological signals regulate the differentiation and phenotypic expression of musculoskeletal cells with the goal of developing cell-based therapies for musculoskeletal repair and regeneration.

Research Interests:
Genetic and epigenetic mechanisms regulating neuronal development and function, with a particular interest in disruptions in these mechanisms that cause neurodevelopmental and cognitive disorders.

Research:
Preparation of novel compounds with applications in polymerization and synthetic chemistry, the development of novel source materials for MOCVD applications, and the preparation of biomimetic calcium phosphonates to be used in bone cements and as bone scaffolding material.

Research:
Building models of correlated percolation inspired by jamming in granular and glassy systems, looking for discontinuous, disorder-driven localization transitions in quantum systems, studying the interplay between morphology and rheology in the actin cytoskeleton, incorporating effects of microRNAs in models of gene regulation

Research: Zhang group’s current research goal is to explore the fundamental mechanism of the extraordinary mechanical performances (i.e., high toughness, great fatigue resistance, and strong adhesion) of biomaterials, such as cartilage, heart valves, bones, and mussel plague and to propose the novel design principle of the bio-inspired smart materials. To achieve this goal, we employ multiscale and multiphysics modeling and simulations to understand the mechanics of the key components of biomaterials: hard materials for stiffness, soft materials for stretchability and tough interface for robustness